The common
Frog (also called "Green Frog") is rather unremarkable, but manages to be an
important part of waterside habitats. and are known for their croaking choirs in
the early spring, summer, and late autumn. They tend to be a bit timid of
people, though they will happily take up residence near them. Children often
have fun collecting these amphibians, and will sometimes hold contests on who
can catch the most in one night.

Appearance. The Green
Frog’s name is certainly not misleading. The
Frog’s
skin, which tends to be slimy and wet, and thus catches the light, is indeed
green, though it can vary in shade. Many of the Frogs in more northern portions
of Sarvonia tend to be darker in colouration
along the back and outer legs, while those of Southern
Sarvonia and
Nybelmar tend to be a brighter green than
helps them to hide in the tall grasses and soft moss that may grow around the
lakes and rivers in which they live.

Some Green Frogs have light markings on their back and legs, oftendarker circles, sometimes ringed in lighter shades of green. These
markings can sometimes be difficult to spot, though, and from a distance, a
spotted common Frog looks almost the same as a regular Common Frog. Stripes are
also rather common for this Frog, though, like the spots, they are often hard to
pick out. The stomach, in all variations, tends to be lighter than the back. The
stomach is almost always a greenish white, though there have been some cases
that, depending on the diet of the Frog, the stomach was a slight pinkish colour.

The body structure of the Frog has set the standard for Frog research. Their
bodies are typically between 5 and 8
nailsbreadth, without their
legs extended, and 3 to 5
nailsbreadths in width. Their hind legs, like all Frogs, are long, with
short front legs that can be as small as one third of their hind leg’s length.
The front feet are curved in, and the back feet are long. The fingers have a
sticky quality that allows them to hold on to rocks and plants.

Their head is typically flat with rounded, black eyes sticking up from the top,
allowing them to see the world above the surface while keeping their body
submerged. They have no necks. The nostrils are small and lie at the end of the
snout. The inner mouth is almost uniformly pinkish white, with a sticky tongue
used to catch insects in mid-flight.

Special Abilities.
The Common Frog has good eyesight. Its eyes tend to bulge out of the top of its
head so that can spot small insects, potential meals, which may be flying past
them. Frogs can close their eyes by pulling the eye deeper into the socket. They
have both a lower and upper eyelid. All of these help to maintain good vision
for this Frog.

It is thought that Green Frogs cannot actually hear, but they feel vibrations,
especially through water, though they can
also feel the vibrations through the ground. Many have grown especially adept at
hearing the vibration of children’s feet, belonging to those who to capture them
for a short while.

The Frog’s greatest sense, though, is probably its sensitivity to touch. Their
skin is thin and delicate. They are also known for their ability to jump. A
Green Frog in good health can jump nearly 20 times its own body length!

Territory.
The common Frog may be found almost anywhere in
Sarvonia, with the ability to take the icy winters of the north as well as
the scorching summers of the south. They seem content as long as they have a
place of fresh water. They can be found as
far north as the Ulaenoth River, the Ebony Lakes, the Shadow Marshes, and even
the Chapel Fjord in the east. The Frog, however, is scarcely found in the Water
Marshes. Then again, little is.

Though the Green Frog survives in
Northern Sarvonia, it truly thrives in Southern
Sarvonia. It can be found happily among the
reeds of the River Vandrina and the
Thaehelvil. It even lives in small quantities in and around Occen’s Lake. As
long as the water is fresh and filled with
suitable food to eat, the Frog is quite content.

Green Frogs prefer to live in places where there is a good amount of brush in
which to hide. They like to swim around reeds that hide them both from predators
and from their prey. Being amphibians, they of course require ample supply of
water, fresh, to continue living. Green
Frogs tend to live in the shallows of lakes or rivers. Journeying out too far
can make them grow weak and drown. They like shallow banks that are easy to
climb on to, and don’t mind having little places to hide in case they hear the
little patter of feet coming their way.

Habitat/Behaviour.
These Frogs are timid little creatures, hiding, sometimes not very well,
whenever anything approaches. If captured, they are not opt to a struggle, and
will sometimes pretend to play dead, though their act rarely fools anyone. Most
of the time, they haven’t the time to put on any sort of display. The hawks and
weasels that eat this Frog will usually have eaten it before it can play dead.

Despite their timid nature, the Frogs happily share space with those of their
own kind. If the pond or portion of the river is a prime place to live, as many
as 15 Frogs can all live within a few square
fores of each other without
much complaint. Fighting among Frogs rarely ever happens. For the most part,
they live quite contently with a bit of company.

Diet.
These Frogs eat insects, and tend to prefer flies, often
just typical houseflies whose larvae can be found in the polls and streams where
the Frogs live, though most any flying insect can be a potential food source.
Even underwater bugs like the lín’már’joh can end
up being a means of nutrients, though they typically prefer flying insects. The
Frog has very sensitive taste buds, though, and if it doesn’t like the taste of
a certain insect, it will spit it out.

Mating.
Mating typically occurs in spring or early summer. During this time, the male
will call to the female through croaks, in which an
air sack located just under the mouth fills
with air and helps to produce the sound
commonly heard in these seasons. The female also has a voice and the ability to
call to her mate, but her voice is often not as loud as her male companion. The
male will typically enter a pool or part of a stream, then the female will
follow him. The male will then cling to her back and fertilize the eggs as they
leave her body.

The eggs of the Green Frog are small, less than a
nailsbreadth in diameter,
and appear as a small black dot surrounded by a clear jelly substance. These
eggs come in large packs of as many as 100 eggs. The pack will sometimes cling
to reeds or just to the walls of the pond, and will eventually hatch between 10
and 20 days after the birth, depending on temperature. When the eggs hatch,
tadpoles are released into the water.

Tadpoles look very little like their parents, being a small round figure with a
long tail. At first, the tadpoles must learn to swim, and often, soon after
birth, will take hold of something by sucking it. The tadpoles are small,
usually about a nailsbreadth
in length, and eat the algae and bacteria from the streams and pools in which
they’re born. Slowly, though, the tadpole will gain legs and its gills will
change to lung so that it can breathe the air.
Slowly its tail will disappear and the tadpole will turn into a full-fledged
Frog. This metamorphosis typically takes place over the course of three to four
weeks.

Young Frogs can mate a year after birth, though most tend to wait until they’re
two. These Frogs live between 5 and 6 year, though some have been recorded as
living as long as 10.

Usages.
The Green Frog helps to cut down on local
fly populations, though most housewives
abhor the creature for its slimy figure. Most seem content as long as the
amphibians remain outside of the house, though. Even though their bodies aren’t
particularly liked, their song is. It is even said that if the croaking of
Frogs
is heard the day after the Mummer’s Moon, it will bring good luck.

Among some northern
human tribes, the Frogs are eaten as a means of surviving. Though not the
preferred meal, Frogs can be eaten when all supplies run out.